Slow Cooker Chicken Pasanda

It seems to have got cold again so this tasty slow cooker chicken pasanda was perfect to warm us up in the evening after a long day at work. Pasanda is usually a curry containing cream, yoghurt or coconut milk and almonds. The name means “liked” or “favourite” as this mild curry is popular with young and old alike.

As I wanted to make this dish in my slow cooker, I swapped the cream or yoghurt for reduced-fat coconut milk, because cream or yoghurt can split, or curdle, in the slow cooker. It worked very well, with a thick and creamy sauce when served. I make no claims as to the authenticity of my version of the chicken pasanda, but we enjoyed the flavours and it would be easy to adjust the level of spice to suit your taste by reducing or increasing the amount of fresh chilli and chilli powder.

I love to make curries but the length of the list of ingredients and the number of steps can be overwhelming, especially if you don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen. This version is so simple because you can throw all of the ingredients into the slow cooker together if you are short on time, and still get great results. For me, using the slow cooker to make curries is ideal, as you can forget about it for the rest of day while at work or out of the house.

Really popular with my family and also with my readers, this slow cooker chicken pasanda curry is one I turn to over and over again as it always has great results. It is also very tasty if you throw in some vegetables – peas, red peppers and mushrooms work really well, and you can also bulk it up with sweet potato or butternut squash.

Get the recipe below and check out my Recipe Index for loads more slow cooker curries and dishes.

Cook for around 6 hours on low or 3-4 on high. I like to cook for the first hour on high to get it going well, then switch to low.

Recipe Notes

Tip: If you have extra time you could fry the onion in a little oil until soft, then add the garlic and cook for a minute more, then add the spices and fry for 1-2 minutes more until fragrant, before putting it in the slow cooker and adding the coconut milk and ground almonds. If not, you still get plenty of flavour just putting all the ingredients in and leaving it to cook slowly.

Serve with rice or naan bread, with some chopped fresh coriander on top.

This is a lovely recipe. I am not that familiar with cooking curries but I do love them! I made a few but without following a proper recipe so you can imagine.. they were not proper curries. I love this! Thank you for your recipe bookmarking it.

It has gone really cold lately but this looks like it would really warm you up again. I do like cooking curries but agree that sometimes the long ingredients list does put me off so I like this easier version, especially as the slow cooker does all the hard work 🙂

Oh boy, can I learn a lot about slow cooker cooking from you. I love making curry from scratch and always in the oven or in a kadai. I’ll give it a go. I have an electric multicooker which has thus far proved its worth by not letting anything stick.

This is such a lovely recipe which I tried last year……now I am wondering if you can tell me if it freezes well please? I am stocking up the freezer with homemade goodies ahead of the arrival of our first baby! 🙂
Thanks!

Hi Steve, yoghurt tends to split in the slow cooker so would avoid it. I’ve used coconut milk instead for that reason. If you want to use yoghurt I would just stir it through at the end, but that might mean there isn’t much sauce during cooking.